The proposal, which was advanced from scratch during the last couple weeks of the session by Buncombe County lawmaker Tim Moffitt, raises the explosive issue of forcing Asheville to transfer its $173 million municipal water system to the local Metropolitan Sewerage District.

Though the bill itself would not force such a transfer right away, it does appear to lay the groundwork for such a move and, perhaps ultimately, privatization of the system[4] (and maybe other public water systems as well).

Reports indicate that the Asheville City Council will be discussing the issue this evening. It will be interesting to see if Council tries to weigh in with the Governor before her deadline for action at the end of this week.